


(Re)Connection

by lionessvalenti



Category: Baby-Sitters Club - Ann M. Martin
Genre: Community: babysitters100, Future Fic, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-12
Updated: 2014-01-12
Packaged: 2018-01-08 10:23:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1131520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lionessvalenti/pseuds/lionessvalenti
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jessi runs into Mallory after four years and they go out for coffee. They just aren't best friends anymore.</p>
            </blockquote>





	(Re)Connection

It's funny how someone could be one of the most important people in your life, and then when you think about them, you realize you haven't spoken to them in years. You've barely _thought_ about them in years. You have this whole other life that has nothing to do with them, and somewhere, they have this big life, too. Full of other people that you've never met, and may never know about because other people's lives are so complex. Your life is complex, too, but it's your life. You don't think about it the same way.

That's what I realized when I saw Mallory Pike across the Stoneybrook High School courtyard. Of _course_ she was going to be there. It was her brother Nicky's high school graduation as much as it was Becca's.

She looked different than the last time I had seen her, which was the summer between junior and senior year of high school. Her shoulder-length red hair was no longer curly, but it still hadn't quite lost its waviness. Weight had settled around her hips giving her a distinct pear shape, but her pale green wrap dress was flattering, and the color complimented her skin. She wore silver rings on all of her fingers and her nails were painted something dark. Maybe black or navy blue.

My first instinct was to pretend like I hadn't seen her to avoid an awkward moment, but then I remembered that I wasn't eleven years old anymore. I was going to be twenty in less than a month. I'd been in Europe for a year, working a real job. I definitely had to be mature about this. There wasn't time to go up to her now, but there wasn't anything wrong with saying hi to an old friend.

She didn't see me anyway. I watched her family take up an entire row, and then I got distracted as my little brother, JP, pulled out his phone and started playing a game that made a loud beeping noise.

"Turn that off!" I hissed.

"Jessi, this is boring," JP replied.

"It hasn't even started yet."

"And I'm already bored."

I thought about passing this off to my parents or Aunt Cecelia, but then JP would just sulk through the whole ceremony, except to maybe clap when they called Becca's name. "Turn the sound off, okay?"

JP grinned. Now that I don't live at home, I can get away with being the cool older sister sometimes.

The ceremony began, and after a while, _I_ sort of wished I had games on my phone. It was a little better when Charlotte Johansson made her valedictorian speech. She looked nervous when she started, but as she got into it, her anxiety seemed to fade.

Finally, they began calling names. I clapped loudly for a lot of kids I knew who I used to baby-sit for. And then my whole family screamed and hollered when Becca's name was called. She was grinning so big I thought her face might break. My little sister looked so grown up.

I noticed, as Becca walked off the stage, that Mallory had turned around in her seat to look for me. Our eyes met and I smiled. She smiled, too and turned back around.

After the ceremony was over, we all took pictures with Becca, and I got a great one of her and Charlotte together. They weren't posed, but had both of their hands clasped together, in mid-laugh.

I felt a finger tapping my shoulder and I turned around. There was Mallory. "Hi," I said, trying not to sound surprised. This close, I could see that her freckles had disappeared under make-up.

"Hi," she replied. "I totally forgot you were going to be here. How are you?"

"I'm great," I said. Were we going to stand here and have small talk? No, the least we could do was go somewhere else. "Hey, are you going to be around today? Do you want to go get coffee?"

"I'd like that," Mallory said. "Let me just tell Mom I'm going."

I hugged Becca one more time before she left with Charlotte. There was some party all the newly graduated seniors were going to. It could get wild (the party I went to after my graduation certainly had been), but knowing Becca and Charlotte, they would either leave early or sit in a corner talking about books.

Mallory came back and smiled. "Let's go."

We walked out of the courtyard and onto the sidewalk. I had graduated from SHS three years ago, and not much in Stoneybrook had changed. They still didn't have a Starbucks, but the streets were lined with independent small businesses.

"Just one more year," Mallory said.

"What?" I asked.

"College? Just one more year."

"Two for me, actually," I replied. "I took this past year off for a tour in Europe." I didn't mention that I had been an understudy and spent six weeks of the tour sick as a dog. That kind of constant travel hadn't agreed with me.

"Oh, that's right! Vanessa told me. How was it?" Mallory sounded genuinely excited.

"Europe's amazing." I pushed open the door to the coffee shop just off the SHS campus, and a rush of cold air-conditioned air blew in my face. I was glad I was wearing a cardigan. "We were in London, Paris, Rome... I have pictures."

"I'd love to see them sometime," Mallory replied. "It's so great that you're still dancing."

We ordered our coffees and sat down at a table in the corner. I got a plain coffee with skim milk. Mallory got a frozen, blended thing with chocolate and whipped cream on top.

"So, you're going back to school this year?" Mallory asked as she mixed the whipped cream into her drink with her straw.

I nodded. "I need a break from dancing. The tour was a lot harder than I thought it would be. But I got a part-time job in the fall as a teacher in classes for kids, so I won't get out of shape."

"That's cool," she said, still playing with her straw. "It's great to be able to work with kids, and in your field."

That was when I realized I hadn't asked her a single question. I had had been talking about myself ever since she walked up to me. I don't think I ever asked her how she was. "So, what are you studying?"

Mallory grinned. "Journalism. And polysci. I'm doing an eight week summer internship in Washington, D.C. with this totally conservative newspaper. I disagree with almost all of their politics, but I can probably still learn a ton about the business. And I'll be in D.C., so I can balance my karma on the weekends by protesting shitty abortion bills or attending a gay pride parade or something."

"Oh, wow. I'm just staying in Stoneybrook for the summer." I took a sip of my coffee. "It's so expensive in New York and I'm going back to student housing."

She pressed her lips together in a way Aunt Cecelia does when she's feeling impatient, and then she nodded. "I'll have housing in D.C., but there are roommates. Of course, I've had roommates since I was four. I don't know what I'd do in my own room."

I laughed. "At least you're used to it. I had to work so hard to adjust to roommates. I hadn't shared a room since I was ten. We had roommates on the tour, too."

Mallory nodded. She took a sip of her coffee. "That's tasty. Are you seeing anyone?"

"No time," I replied with a laugh. I had sort-of been seeing a guy on the tour, but he stayed in Europe while I wanted to go back to school. He didn't really count. "Are you?"

"I am," she replied excitedly. "His name is Vinjay, and... I haven't told anyone this, but we're engaged!" She held out her left hand and, sure enough, one of those silver rings had a little diamond in it.

"Oh my god," I said. I looked up at her face. "Do you think your parents won't approve because he's ethnic?"

"No!" Mallory laughed. "Mom and Dad love him. I know they don't want me getting married so young. And it's not like we're going to get married any time soon, not for years. We want to finish school and start our careers first. We were just so on the same page with our commitment, we took the next step. He's going to be in D.C. for the summer, too. A different program, but that's probably a good thing, you know?"

"That sounds great," I said. It wasn't like I was doing nothing with my life, but suddenly I was jealous of Mallory. This was the girl who got run out of middle school because she was called names. She dyed her hair blonde for two weeks because she hated how she looked She had always been a little awkward, a little nerdy, and now Mallory Pike had everything going for her.

"Jessi?"

I looked at her. I guess I had been staring off into space. "Sorry, what?"

Mallory smiled. "Do you remember when we used to play horses? We never told the other girls because knew it was silly, but we had fun."

I laughed. "That was a long time ago, wasn't it?"

She nodded. "It was fun, though. Baby-Sitter's Club and Camp Mohawk. We did so much stuff. I thought, back then, that we were doing everything, and I had no idea it was just the tip of the iceberg. Look at you, you've toured in Europe, you live in New York. We're doing great."

I sipped at my coffee. It was bitter, but I didn't want to put sugar in it. I looked at Mallory's drink and I could hear the other girls on the tour, and maybe me too, judging her for drinking something with full fat milk and sugar, but I bet it tasted good.

I smiled. "We're doing fantastic."


End file.
